The present invention relates to a web-based computer system and method for preparing requests for proposals, responding to questions, and analyzing questionnaires used to identify vendors for products and services.
Industries require goods and services that are specific to their particular line of business. These goods and services could be anything from machine parts to benefit services. While there may be no particular way to go about purchasing these goods or services, they are typically purchased by performing some degree of due diligence so that industries can justify their purchasing decisions.
In some cases, the due diligence may be as simple as sending a letter to a vendor describing the desired good or service and asking the vendor to respond to the letter with pricing information and a capabilities description. However, a typical method for the due diligence process is creating full-blown Requests For Proposals (RFPs) or Request For Quotations (RFQs). The process is typically one of significant labor and effort, requiring substantial time and monetary investment from the purchasers, as well as, from the potential vendors. Depending on the industry, the term RFP and RFQ is often used interchangeably. The distinction is industry specific and for the purpose of this invention, RFP is used for both. Moreover, the term user, RFP creator, and purchaser are used interchangeably; and the term vendor, respondent, proposal creator, and user are used interchangeably, throughout this application.
Goods and services that are purchased through this process need to be customized to the purchaser""s specifications that are described in detail in a RFP. For many specialized goods and services, there is no retail market place that defines these specialized goods and services because these goods and services are not typically available or financially accessible to the general population. The budgets that support corporate purchasing decisions tend to be very large, often times in the millions of dollars. As a result, purchasers and their counterparts want to fully disclose their requirements to the potential vendors of goods and services. Likewise, the vendors require clear and well-defined requirements from their potential purchasers because, if they promise capabilities that they cannot deliver, they run the risk of losing the current and possibly future business. The detailed RFP or RFQ clearly defines the requirements from the vendor.
The current environment for RFPs is one where a purchaser identifies a need within the organization and creates a detailed RFP to present to the potential vendors of the desired product. The RFP is typically comprised of questions related to the potential vendor""s capabilities, operations, financial history, service areas and more. The scope of the questions is not limited to these areas, however, these are typical areas of interest for purchasers of goods and services. The process of identifying, compiling and creating RFPs tends to be labor intensive. This process, which is relatively manual, requires a serious and tedious commitment to detail. RFP questions are created from a variety of sources from inside and outside of the purchaser""s purchasing organization. When all questions and specifications are completed, the RFP is compiled and prepared using a word processing program.
Once the RFP is completed, the rules for responding to the RFP and the RFP itself are printed, bound and sent out to the potential vendors. This portion includes any necessary contact information or other pertinent information. Potential vendors are identified using a variety of methods. Typically, purchasers have relationships with many of the potential vendors. Additional vendors are identified by compiling contacts from industry contacts and colleagues.
Once an RFP is received by a vendor, the vendor goes through its own due diligence process. Vendors review the RFP to see whether or not the vendors are qualified and whether they want to respond. If a vendor decides to respond, the RFP is sent to its proposal unit under the direction of an account manager or some other form of management. The proposal unit reviews each of the RFP questions and finds appropriate responses in its response manual or has to research the capabilities of the company. This response is then entered into a word processor to respond to the question. Once all of the questions have been addressed, the response to the RFP is prepared and sent back to the purchaser.
The purchaser, upon receiving the completed RFP from the vendor, begins the manual process of analyzing the results of the RFP. By reviewing each response, the purchaser can establish which vendor best meets the organization""s needs. This process requires that each question be reviewed manually to ensure the question has been answered completely. While the RFP responses are being manually reviewed, often, a manual scoring mechanism in a scorecard is used to track results and responses. Once all of the results have been reviewed, the scorecard typically indicates a winner. These results are ultimately used to make final purchasing decisions.
As an example, the employee benefits industry uses this process for generating RFPs and responding to RFPs. Typically, employee benefits providers are requested to provide a proposal and description of their products by consultants who deal directly with clients such as businesses that seek health coverage for their employees. The consultant generates a RFP to be mailed to several competing health insurance providers. The RFP includes a group of questions related to the providers"" products, offerings, and policies. These RFPs or questionnaires generally include numerous complex questions that require different answers depending on the purchaser requirements, size, and type of business. Furthermore, RFPs need to be customized for different purchasers based on their own specific requirements and tailored to the types of vendors providing the requested goods and services. However, many of the questions in the RFPs may be common to a variety of purchasers.
Moreover, answers are usually short lived, and need to be generated by interacting with resources located at various locations within the provider""s company. The time needed by the users to generate the RFP and for the vendors to respond to a given RFP in a quality manner has increased, while the deadlines established by the purchasers have been increasingly condensed.
Some attempts have been made to computerize some aspects of the process wherein questions and corresponding answers were stored in a database that could be accessed by responding vendors to respond to a RFP. Other systems have been described that are based on a word processing system and run in a heterogeneous environment. These semi-computerized systems lack the ease of use and portability. Users would have to acquire specialized and complex software to be able to use the system. It would be advantageous therefore to have a system that automates the entire process of creating, responding to, and analyzing a RFP in a common and homogeneous environment that is accessible by selected users without having to acquire specialized and complex software.
With respect to the processes described above, there is a need for a more efficient method of managing the entire RFP process that can automate and facilitate the creation of a RFP, response to the RFP, and analysis of the RFP in a common, secure environment accessible by selected users.
These and other needs can be met by an embodiment of the present invention. One embodiment of the present invention is a method and apparatus that enables users to create a common environment for all RFP users, both creators (consultants) and respondents (vendors), to facilitate the RFP process. An Internet based computer system assembles and organizes the information into a common format in a plurality of databases accessible through a web site interface by selected users. The system makes it easier to access, interpret and analyze all the pertinent data in a localized environment using a web site interface. The method and apparatus of the present invention greatly enhance efficiency and decrease cost.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the system and method provide RFP creators with the capability to capitalize on previously developed RFP""s and specific questions within each RFP using a question database and a RFP database accessible through the web site interface. This capability is further enhanced by the ability to add new and unique questions. An automated response system enables RFP respondents to capitalize on their previously created responses to the same questions when they are re-used. The automated response system uses a response database that is linked to the question database and is accessible through the web site interface. Additionally, the RFP creators are provided with a scoring and weighting program to quickly estimate the value of each response to questions included in the RFP. This analysis program is used to create preliminary scorecards and final scorecards depending on the stage of evaluation.
An automated evaluation software module evaluates the completed vendor responses once completed RFP""s have been received in their final completed form. The evaluation module evaluates responses for true and false, multiple choice, and text responses. Preferably, the text responses are summarized and evaluated only once by RFP creators who manually review new text responses, as opposed to every time they re-appear in an RFP. The system of the present invention also accurately tracks and references information from previous RFP""s using an RFP database accessible through the web site interface.
The system also helps users track critical proposal guidelines, instructions, contacts, results and other key information. Accessing critical information such as questions, responses, scoring and summaries of responses in databases through a common interface, such as a web site interface, furnishes the users with a secure, easy to use, high quality, and timely process for generating, managing, and responding to RFPs.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method and apparatus that enables users to generate RFP forms from a variety of sources within a secure communications network such as the Internet. RFP sources include current and historical internal RFP databases, as well as questions and references from external resources. Multiple users can collaborate on a single RFP form or on a response to a RFP from within the same office or from locations around the world. Once completed and approved, the RFP form is posted to the communications network and is given a unique location on said network so that vendors may locate it. A criteria form enables the RFP creators to add response criteria and weighted values to each individual question as they create their RFPs. The criteria are only available for use by the RFP creator for the purpose of evaluation and analysis. The criteria are preferably not made available to the vendors (respondents). These response criteria are then evaluated against the response forms to create a preliminary scorecard. The RFP creators can add weights to each section and question. When the RFP response form is evaluated, a score can be automatically tallied by the system to give reviewers a preliminary list of the qualified vendors for a given project. After totaling the scores for all of the defined responses (typically yes/no or multiple choice questions), users can evaluate text responses using the scoring system. After reviewing the responses to individual text questions, a score can be given to each response and ultimately totaled for a final scorecard.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the system creates RFP response documents from historical relationships between questions, answers, and previously created RFPs in the system. Once RFP forms have been posted to the communications network, RFP respondents can review the RFP and begin to identify appropriate responses. Using an automated linking routine, respondents can utilize the previous responses to the same or similar RFP questions stored in the response database. This part of the system also allows for collaborative behavior, enabling users to share questions and responses with respondents from remote locations. Once completed, the system runs an automated routine to determine whether or not the RFP response is completed. Responding vendors post their response to the communications network and the system sends a notification of completion to the RFP creator entity via said communications network.
Another feature of the present invention facilitates the distribution of the newly created electronic RFP document. Upon completion of the RFP form, invitation notes to participate are sent automatically by the system to the specified users via a communications network. The invitation notes include, but are not limited to, vendor password, log in information, and the address of the RFP on the communications network. Other pertinent information such as due dates and any special instructions may also be included along with the invitation. Once the vendors complete the RFP response forms (proposals), the proposals are posted to the communications network for review by the RFP creators for review and analysis.
In one embodiment, the system enables users to produce results and summary materials directly from an analysis database. Moreover, users can track their progress on a multitude of projects using a project manager software tool. The RFP respondents may also be notified of their status on any given RFP. This is carried out by a progress tracker that monitors each response to make sure it is complete, a status tracking software tool which informs respondents of the status of their completed responses, and quality tracking software tool which provides feedback on reviewed RFPs once they have been scored. These software tools collectively make up the project manager software tool.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent in view of the accompanying drawings and the detailed description of the embodiments.